Well, first off, let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? Of course, Belarus’ entry to the Eurovision Song Contest is a political statement against those that seek to change the regime. It’s not for this, or in my opinion any other fan media, to postulate and seek to influence a multinational broadcasting organisation, but somewhere the voices have been quite loud, because we got this statement from the EBU:
“As part of the regular procedure for all songs submitted to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), the EBU has carefully scrutinized the Belarusian song, Ya Nauchu Tebya (I’ll Teach You) by Galasy ZMesta to ensure it complies with the rules of the competition.
It was concluded that the song puts the non-political nature of the Contest in question.
In addition, recent reactions to the proposed entry risk bringing the reputation of the ESC into disrepute.
We’ve written to the broadcaster BTRC, which is responsible for Belarus’ entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, to inform them that the song, in its present form, is currently not eligible to compete.
Furthermore we’ve requested that they take all necessary steps to submit a modified version, or a new song, that is compliant with the ESC rules.
Failure to do so could result in disqualification from this year’s Contest.”
Interestingly, they went for “bringing the contest into disrepute”, rather than being an overt political statement; something vague enough that broadcaster BRTC can’t successfully argue against. It remains to be seen what BRTC choose to do, but I suspect we might not see them at the contest.
North Macedonia
Getting back to the songs, (you know, the thing this contest is about), North Macedonia released Vasil’s 2021 entry ‘Here I Stand’. It’s been described by Eurovision.tv as a big unchained ballad. See what you think.
United Kingdom
Finally, my home broadcaster the BBC has released what it hopes to be the start of its Eurovision comeback. James Newman gets the gig again, and saves BMG the bother of finding someone else. He has penned, along with his mates, a song that he describes as a “banger”. Is it though? Well, it has all the right ingredients: James is engaging enough and can sing – an improvement on the last few years, at any rate. I wish him well!